THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[(vi) CONTACT / PHASSA]
220. As to the clause 'With the sixfold base as condition, contact':
Contact is briefly of six kinds
With eye-contact and others too;
According to each consciousness
It is in detail thirty-two.
221. Briefly, with the clause 'With the sixfold base as condition, con-
tact', there are only the six kinds beginning with eye-contact, that is to
say, eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact,
and mind-contact. But in detail the five profitable resultant and the five
unprofitable resultant beginning with eye-contact make ten; the rest, which
are associated with the twenty-two kinds of mundane resultant conscious-
ness, make twenty-two. So all these come to thirty-two ((34)-(65)), like
the consciousness with formations as condition given above.
222. But as to the sixfold base that is a condition for this thirty-twofold
contact: herein:
Some wise men take the sixfold base
To be the five internal bases
With the sixth; but others count
These plus the six external bases.
223. Herein, firstly, there are those who take this to be an exposition of
the occurrence of what is clung to, [that is, kammically-acquired aggre-
gates,] and they maintain that the conditioning [bases] and the condition-
ally-arisen [contact] are only what is included in one's own continuity.
They take any one part to represent any remaining one of its kind, since
the condition for contact in the immaterial states is the sixth base [only],
according to the text 'With the sixth base as condition, contact' (Vbh. 179),
and elsewhere it is the sixfold base inclusively. So they have it that
'sixfold base' means the internal [five] beginning with the eye plus the
sixth (mind) base. For that sixth base and that sixfold base are styled
'sixfold base'. But there are those who maintain that it is only the condi-
tionally-arisen [contact] that is contained in a single continuity, while
the conditioning [bases] are contained in separate [that is, past] con-
tinuities as well. They maintain that all and any such bases are a condi-
tion for contact, and they include also the [six] external ones. So they
have it that 'sixfold base' means the same internal [five] plus the sixth
plus the external ones beginning with visible data. For that sixth base
and that [partial] sixfold base and the sixfold base along with these
[external ones] each representing the rest [566] are styled sixfold base
too.
224. Here it may be asked: 'One kind of contact does not derive from
all the bases, nor all the kinds of contact from one base. And yet "With
the sixfold base as condition, contact" is said in the singular. Why is
that?'.
225. Here is the answer: It is true that neither is one derived from all nor
all from one. However, one is derived from many. For eye-contact is de-
rived from the eye base, from the visible-data base, from the mind base
reckoned as eye-consciousness, and from the mental-datum base consist-
ing of the remaining associated states. And each case should be con-
strued as appropriate in this way. Therefore:
Though stated in the singular,
He shows therewith in all such cases
That this contact, though only one,
Is yet derived from several bases.
Though stated in the singular: the meaning is, by this statement in
the singular that 'With the sixfold base as condition, contact', it is pointed
out by the Blessed One (Tddin) that contact, which is of one kind, comes
into being from many bases.
[How the Sixfold Base is a Condition for Contact]
226. But as regards these bases:
Five in six ways; and after that
One in nine ways; the external six
As contact's conditionality
According to each case we fix.
227. Here is the explanation: firstly, the five consisting of the eye base,
etc., are conditions in six ways, as support, prenascence, faculty, disso-
ciation, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for contact classed
in five ways as eye-contact, and so on. After that, the single resultant
mind base is a condition in nine ways, as conascence, mutuality, support,
result, nutriment, faculty, association, presence, and non-disappearance
conditions, for the variously-classed resultant mind contact. But in the
case of the external bases, the visible-data base is a condition in four
ways, as object, prenascence, presence, and non-disappearance condi-
tions, for eye-contact. Likewise the sound base, etc., respectively for ear-
contact, and so on. But these and mental data as object are conditions
likewise, and as object condition too, for mind-contact^ so 'the external
six as contact's conditionality according to each case we fix'.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause 'With the sixfold base
as condition, contact'.
[(vii) FEELING / VEDANA]
228. As to the clause 'With contact as condition, feeling':
Feelings, when named by way of door
* Eye-contact-born' and all the rest,
Are only six; but then they are
At nine and eighty sorts assessed.
229. In the analysis of this clause [in the Vibhahga] only six kinds of
feeling according to door are given thus, 'Eye-contact-born feeling, ear-,
nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-contact-born feeling' (Vbh. 136). [567] Still,
when classed according to association with the eighty-nine kinds of con-
sciousness, they are 'at nine and eighty sorts assessed'.
230. But from the nine and eighty feelings
Thirty-two, no more, appear
Associated with result,
And only those are mentioned here.
Herein, contact in the five doors
Conditions five in eightfold way,
And single way the rest; it acts
In the mind door in the same way.
231. Herein, in the five doors contact beginning with eye-contact is a
condition in eight ways, as conascence, mutuality, support, result, nutri-
ment, association, presence, and non-disappearance conditions, for the
five kinds of feeling that have respectively eye sensitivity, etc., as their
physical basis. But that contact beginning with eye-contact is a condition
in one way only, as decisive-support condition, for the rest of resultant
feeling in the sense sphere occurring in each door as receiving, investi-
gation and registration.
232. In the mind door in the same way: the contact called conascent
mind-contact is also a condition in the same eight ways for sense-sphere
resultant feeling occurring as registration in the mind door, and so also
for the kinds of resultant feeling in the three planes occurring with
rebirth-linking, life-continuum and death. But the mind-contact associ-
ated with mind-door adverting is a condition in one way only, as deci-
sive-support condition, for the kinds of feeling that occur in the mind
door as registration in the sense sphere.
This is the detailed explanation of the clause 'With contact as condi-
tion, feeling'.
No comments:
Post a Comment